Militant groups on Friday, Oct. 15, expressed disappointment over the non-inclusion of Makabayan senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares in the senatorial slate of Vice President and presidential aspirant Leni Robredo for the May 2022 elections.
Fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that “without Colmenares, Robredo’s senatorial line up is more of a representation of traditional politicians and their political interests than a representation of the marginalized.”
“Vice President Robredo needs Atty. Colmenares more than some people in her slate that do not have any credibility to be called opposition, simply put,” said Pamalakaya national chairperson Fernando Hicap in a statement.
“Talking about opposition, Colmenares, along with the people’s organizations that he is affiliated with, have been at the forefront of fighting the terrors, corruption, and puppetry of the Duterte regime,” he added.
On Friday, Robredo has named 11 candidates of the opposition senatorial slate for the May 2022 polls.
They are former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Senator Risa Hontiveros, Senator Leila de Lima, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel ‘Chel’ Diokno, former Ifugao representative Teodoro Baguilat Jr., Alex Lacson of Kapatiran Party, Senator Richard Gordon, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Senator Joel Villanueva, and former Vice President Jejomar Binay.
The Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, meanwhile, said that Robredo's slate was not a “united opposition.”
“Atty. Neri Colmenares, a human rights defender, champion of workers, peasants and other marginalized sectors, is a genuine opposition to the bone, against the abuses, anti-people and anti-peasant women policies of the Duterte regime,” Zen Soriano, national chairperson of Amihan, said in a separate statement.
“Excluding him to the 'united opposition,' is symptomatic that it is not,” she added.